Bloomberg's Plan to Thin the Big Apple

In light of the current healthcare debate in Congress, many food activists and nutrition specialists are drawing attention to the fact that medical costs are soaring due to obesity-related diseases. Why are Americans getting fatter? Two reasons are (1) unhealthy food is cheap and getting cheaper, and (2) healthy food is hard to find, especially in poorer neighborhoods.

At least, that's the idea. The Bloomberg administration in New York
City, which has been at the forefront of nutrition policy since the ban on trans fats,
is seeking to make nutritious food more available in northern
Manhattan, central Brooklyn, the South Bronx, and Jamaica, Queens.
Yesterday, the City Planning Commission unanimously approved a proposal
that will offer zoning and tax incentives to grocery stores in these areas.

But in neighborhoods where unhealthy food shopping habits run deep, do these supermarkets have a chance? Diane Cardwell at the New York Times writes:

There is little consensus outside the administration that the
program would significantly change eating habits, especially in a grim
economy [...] Indeed, the city's earlier efforts to make fresh foods more
readily available in poor neighborhoods have yielded mixed results.

Efforts to encourage the city's bodegas to stock low-fat milk and
fresh produce have been less successful than originally hoped, with
health department officials now focusing their efforts on 60 stores
every six months, rather than roughly 1,000 they started with in
2006.

Cardwell cites evidence that there is a demand for these new
supermarkets, such as the use of food stamps at farmers markets, the
success of a Pathmark in East Harlem, and the general success of a
similar program started in Pennsylvania four years ago.

As a proponent of nutrition, I find it hard to criticize New York's ambition. But I worry
that the plan will shoot for the moon and miss the mark entirely. The
current plan provides zoning exceptions that allow for the construction
of larger buildings in these neighborhoods. Why not first give tax
incentives to existing Duane Reade and CVS pharmacies (already a daily
destination for millions of city shoppers) to carry fresh produce?
Perhaps this, in combination with public nutrition education programs,
will create a more concrete demand for large grocery stores in these
neighborhoods.

Madeleine Kennedy grew up outside New York City and in Vero Beach, Florida. She was raised in a food-obsessed family, including a nutritionist mom and a fisherman father, who taught her the pleasures of cooking and entertaining. Madeleine moved to Washington, DC in 2005 for college and is currently working in the area. She writes about her adventures with food on her blog.